Hiding from Christmas: A Holiday Time-travel Romance

By LoRee Peery

After her grandparents as forced to live apart through assisted living, and then die within nine days of each other, intrepid entrepreneur Calissa Ladd is devastated. She's always wanted to experience the same lifelong love modeled by her grandparents, but her heart isn't where it needs to be as she clings to the past for answers and then starts having vivid dreams of a long-ago time period.

Deferential banker Monte McQueen has loved Calissa since they were children, but he procrastinates making a commitment to her. He stands by as Calissa gets stuck in the past.

Calissa clings to the decrepit homestead that belonged to her family, searching and seeing visions into the past. Will she overcome her skewed beliefs and reclaim her relationship with the Lord as Monte pushes his love of Christmas on her? Or will she forfeit her happily-ever-after?

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Rose Publishing
• Release date: Nov 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781522302605

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Hiding from Christmas

LoRee Peery

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Hiding from Christmas

COPYRIGHT 2019 by LoRee Peery

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Pelican Ventures, LLC except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

eBook editions are licensed for your personal enjoyment only. eBooks may not be re-sold, copied or given to other people. If you would like to share an eBook edition, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version(R), NIV(R), Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Cover Art by Nicola Martinez

White Rose Publishing, a division of Pelican Ventures, LLC

www.pelicanbookgroup.com PO Box 1738 *Aztec, NM * 87410

White Rose Publishing Circle and Rosebud logo is a trademark of Pelican Ventures, LLC

Publishing History

First White Rose Edition, 2019

Electronic Edition ISBN 978-1-5223-0260-5

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To Sharon Dean, avid reader and supporter of Christian authors. Thank you for inspiring this story. By sharing the shining aspects of your character, you are a person extraordinaire. The support you give authors can’t be topped.

I am blessed and thankful to call you a sister-in-Christ. I wish you abounding blessings, with abounding love.

A special thanks, also, to Emily Gray and Jennifer Slattery for your input on this story. God has given each of you unique gifts with which to serve others. I appreciate each of you and treasure your friendship.

To all readers, may your Christmases be merry and bright.

What People are Saying

I really enjoyed this story as it hit home and the heart in many ways! I learned a lot about myself through Calissa and think this story will flourish very well with readers. Revisiting our past and getting to know our ancestors is so very important these days, and it’s something that is often pushed to the wayside. ~ Sharon Dean, A Writer’s Angel

1

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." ~ Isaiah 55:9

Monte licked the envelope and tapped it on the desk in his bank office as the call connected. Hi, sweetheart. I have a surprise for you.

Hi, yourself. You excited about something? Calissa sounded distracted.

He’d probably interrupted her work, but he was about to give up on helping her see life from his point of view. I am. I’ve taken off the afternoon to celebrate our December thaw. Set aside your thimble. Wash the glue off your hands. Dress warm, and I’ll see you in half an hour. He wished she still lived close to downtown, but he loved her country apartment off Highway 77 south of Fremont.

She sputtered.

He knew Calissa well enough not to give her a chance to make an excuse. Outside the bank, he loosened his scarf. Too warm in the sun.

Twenty minutes later, he inhaled the aroma of spicy meatballs, Calissa’s favorite menu item from Pop’s Place.

Demure smile in place, she met him at the door of her home. She’d gathered her long hair and puffed it high at the crown, just the way he liked it.

How do you manage to look so lovely when you work from home?

Her cool eyes glinted silver. Her lips parted in a bigger smile as she grabbed her black leather jacket. Surprise, huh? Am I dressed all right?

Jeans and boots are perfect. He assisted her by settling the jacket across her shoulders. I knew as soon as I heard the forecast for a day in the mid-sixties, so rare for December, that I needed to get you away from your house. Do you have any speedy orders to expedite?

We’re busy filling Christmas gift orders, of course. Younger and younger girls are getting into the bling of my jeweled denim. She opened her front door and jiggled the knob to make sure it was locked. I’m so glad my nieces help after school.

They’re what, fifteen and sixteen now?

Yes.

He wound his way through the development surrounded by fallow cornfields.

She gazed out the window, occasionally repositioning a pin that held the pouf of hair above her unlined forehead and away from her face.

He slowed for the country road off the highway, and she finally turned to him.

Are we going where I think we are?

Yes. The snow is gone. I thought a picnic would be the perfect surprise to celebrate a beautiful day.

She punched him in the arm and smiled again. You can be romantic when you want to be.

Moments later, he pulled into the indecipherable drive where little gravel remained visible. Green grass in front of the dilapidated home made it look more like September than December. What she saw in this place, he’d never understand. Why it hadn’t fallen down in a good wind was unbelievable. It had to be dangerous and rotted. The window glass was long gone. Trees grew out of the foundation.

Oh, thank you, Monte. I love this place. It’s always looked rundown, yet something inside me considers it home.

He shook his head, exited, and then turned to the backseat. If you grab the food behind you, I’ll get everything else. I borrowed a camp table and chairs from our upcoming new savings account campaign at the bank. And a nice tablecloth from the vice president, who claimed it a romantic touch.

This smells wonderful. Calissa set down the box on the table. Its contents were wrapped in foil. She moved her chair so she’d face the decrepit house. I can’t believe how warm it is today.

Reviews for Hiding from Christmas

[penelopemarzec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Monte and Calissa have been friends forever, but that's it. Even so, Calissa expects Monte to give her a ring but he gives her an old-fashioned Christmas card instead. She longs for the type of forever love her grandparents had, but Monte is afraid of marriage because his parents divorced. The situation seems hopeless. The ramshackle homestead where Calissa's grandparents lived offers Calissa visions of the true love her grandparents shared. Calissa is stuck with dreams of the past and Monte is afraid to give her his heart. Some people are far too stubborn for their own good! The true emotional depth in this story made it a wonderful read. I highly recommend it.